The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Costco has dubbed the two companies as its new credit partners starting in April of next year, reports the Wall Street Journal. Previously, only AmEx credit cards and debit cards were accepted at the wholesale retailer.

This means only Citi will be able to issue Costco co-branded credit cards, and it will make Visa the exclusive credit-card network for Costco’s stores. While it’s clearly a big win for Visa and Citi, Costco hasn’t revealed any financial terms of the deal.

It would seem that whatever the agreement involves, it’s more favorable for Costco than the arrangement it had with AmEx: Costco had been trying to come to new terms in its AmEx deal, but the two sides couldn’t reach a mutually beneficial decision, the company said. Instead, Costco said that ending its relationship with AmEx was about saving money for customers.

As of March 31, 2016, AmEx Costco-branded credit cards will be useless, giving customers just over a year to make the switch — if they want to. Customers can still use debit cards from either Visa or MasterCard, as well as Costco cash cards, which can be purchased online.